tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-155169702011-09-14T15:19:17.950-06:00Inspiring and encouraging quotes for writers.Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.comBlogger2821100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-48342102703796612532007-04-25T07:56:00.000-06:002007-04-25T08:05:31.202-06:00

Well, not exactly over, just shifting to another blog...My Writing Mentor! You'll still find great quotes to inspire your writing, but you'll also find a little bit more...Do you ever wish you had a writing mentor? Someone to give you advice, answer your questions, and prod you on? My Writing Mentor consists of tips, helps, and answers for finding success in the publishing world. My Writing

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-17606816492724473612007-04-24T14:07:00.000-06:002007-09-13T14:08:13.896-06:00

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-23874433994923232992007-04-24T10:00:00.000-06:002007-04-24T10:01:13.236-06:00

One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone long dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.~~Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-33034606945315284792007-04-23T10:50:00.000-06:002007-04-23T11:02:39.204-06:00

An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate.~~Francois Rene Chateaubriand

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-42665009569733758062007-04-20T10:49:00.000-06:002007-04-20T10:53:17.641-06:00

Being a writer is like having homework every night for the rest of yourlife.~~Lawrence Kasdan, screenwriter, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-56352338342086891942007-04-19T08:46:00.000-06:002007-04-19T11:00:23.074-06:00

Another one from Lewis..."What you want is practice, practice, practice. It doesn't matter what we write (at least this is my view) at our age, so long as we write continually as well as we can. I feel that every time I write a page either of prose or of verse, with real effort, even if it's thrown into the fire the next minute, I am so much further on."~~C.S. Lewis, Letters of C.S. Lewis to

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-32977898713609733132007-04-18T10:21:00.000-06:002007-04-18T10:23:12.252-06:00

You know you're a writer when you receive a clothing catalog and immediately scan the models' faces to see if they match a character in your wip instead of looking at the clothes.~~Vickie McDonoughwww.vickiemcdonough.com

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-39887187079116046142007-04-17T08:39:00.000-06:002007-04-17T12:01:50.373-06:00

Lynnette Horner sent me several good quotes from mystery author Elizabeth George's book "Write Away":"You will be published if you possess three qualities - talent, passion, and discipline. You will probably be published if you possess two of the three qualities in either combination - either talent and discipline, or passion and discipline. You will likely be published if you possess neither

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-50001248220180782742007-04-16T08:35:00.000-06:002007-04-16T11:21:09.633-06:00

"The author who benefits you most is not one who tells you something you did not know before, but the one who gives expression to the truth that has beendumbly struggling for existence."~~Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-86609994004416956292007-04-13T08:09:00.000-06:002007-04-13T09:47:56.345-06:00

Lynnette Horner sent this C.S. Lewis quote to me that she has framed on her desk!Every poet and musician and artist, but for Grace, is drawn away from love of the thing he tells, to love of the telling till, down in Deep Hell, they cannot be interested in God at all but only in what they say about Him."~~C.S. Lewis in "The Great DivorceWOW...now there is a thought provoking statement if there

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-64243135048430533442007-04-13T08:01:00.000-06:002007-04-12T09:21:11.100-06:00

"Be regular and ordinary in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work."~~Flaubert

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-20511812282795016252007-04-11T08:06:00.000-06:002007-04-11T09:06:35.041-06:00

I got this great quote from Jenny Carlisle http://www.shoutlife.com/jennymccShe says, Here's a quote I saw in an entertainment news story about Will Smith(Fresh Prince, Men In Black, The Pursuit of Happiness, etc.) back in December. I haven't seen it repeated much, but I think it's great. It spoke to my tendency to sit back and wait until someone "discovers" me."What we call luck, what we call

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-61043019989198303172007-04-10T08:35:00.000-06:002007-04-10T09:38:10.175-06:00

Writer Peg Phifer sent this quote to me:The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar and familiar things new."~~Samuel Johnson

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-9337921352359966062007-04-09T08:09:00.000-06:002007-04-09T09:32:53.307-06:00

"Forget 'write what you know.' Whether it's something you know or not, the very next book you need to write is the book that you have been longing to read for years, but have not read because it does not yet exist. Write that book. Make it your mission to fill that hole in the body of literature. Write what you love."~~Tom MorriseyWell said Tom!

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-68311768223435773762007-04-06T08:19:00.000-06:002007-04-09T09:32:26.897-06:00

Tom Morrisey sent me this one..."What no wife of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when he's staring out of the window."~~Burton Rascoe

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-6440641661041094142007-04-05T10:39:00.000-06:002007-04-06T09:56:49.798-06:00

"Don't get discouraged because there's a lot of mechanical work to writing...I rewrote the first part of Farewell to Arms at least fifty times."~~Ernest Hemingway

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-83747082694601233352007-04-05T10:23:00.000-06:002007-04-05T10:25:48.912-06:00

My friend Elece Hollis sent this to as a good thing to remember if you want your writing to flow smoothly. :“Someone once said that in good writing, sentences hold hands.”~~Patricia T. O’Conner’s book Woe is I

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-27162569122842136472007-04-04T07:58:00.000-06:002007-04-04T08:02:06.678-06:00

Hello all...I wanted to let you know about a new resource for all you budding writers out therecheck it out: http://mywritingmentor.blogspot.com/!Make sure to sign up for the newsletter....and tell all your freinds!

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-7590362589127808682007-04-03T08:01:00.000-06:002007-04-03T10:10:18.137-06:00

“How can one not dream while writing?”~~Gaston Bachelard

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-59254615829545125992007-04-02T08:06:00.000-06:002007-04-02T10:56:02.278-06:00

“Life itself is a writer’s lover until death - fascinating, cruel, lavish, warm, cold, treacherous, constant.”~~Edna Ferber

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-59334304814057842052007-03-30T08:10:00.000-06:002007-03-30T08:10:00.990-06:00

“All writing comes by the grace of God.”~~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-16433659417565192572007-03-28T08:09:00.000-06:002007-03-29T09:47:11.159-06:00

“True ease in writing comes in art, not chance, as those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.” ~~Alexander Pope

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-13530737851273740342007-03-28T08:06:00.000-06:002007-03-28T09:59:56.077-06:00

“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.”~~E. L. Doctorow

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-52399299186883082292007-03-27T08:09:00.000-06:002007-03-27T09:57:46.690-06:00

“Writing is the supreme solace.”~~Somerset Maugham

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-2415530672558267402007-03-26T10:47:00.000-06:002007-03-26T10:50:00.545-06:00

“If any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul.”~~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-23821451364689137412007-03-23T10:42:00.000-06:002007-03-23T16:41:32.648-06:00

"When I write, I aim in my mind not toward New York but toward a vague spot a little east of Kansas. I think of the books on library shelves, without their jackets, years old, and a countryish teen-aged boy finding them, and having them speak to him."~~John Updike

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-17449991193173783712007-03-22T10:07:00.000-06:002007-03-22T10:11:16.404-06:00

I found this on the Writer's Almanac today...L'Amour was obsessed with the accuracy of his novels, and filled his personal library with more than 8,000 reference books, including hundreds of personal diaries by cowboys and pioneers. Whenever he wrote about a particular place, he always went there to see exactly what kinds of plants were growing, and what the geological formations looked like. He

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-41781090989186575912007-03-22T08:21:00.000-06:002007-03-21T09:48:07.630-06:00

In 1930, (Harry) Sinclair Lewis, became the first American writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. He said his inspiration as a writer came from, "sitting in Pullman smoking cars, in a Minnesota village, on a Vermont farm, in a hotel in Kansas City or Savannah, listening to the normal daily drone of what are to me the most fascinating and exotic people in the world — the Average Citizens of

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-52696765570004811932007-03-21T11:40:00.000-06:002007-03-20T10:43:41.511-06:00

"In a weak moment I have written a book . . . "~~Margaret Mitchell 11/19/1935

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-87014653941708552352007-03-20T08:35:00.000-06:002007-03-19T08:57:38.679-06:00

This just seemed to sum up how it feels to be blocked...to know where the road (of your story) is going...but in consternation to find there's a 'stone' blocking the road!My sympathies and empathies...and a call to remember...all stones can be moved!"In the Middle of the Road"by Elizabeth Bishop, from The Complete Poems: 1927-1979 . ©In the Middle of the RoadIn the middle of the road there was a

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-49962173756454684132007-03-16T08:32:00.000-06:002007-03-16T11:30:48.782-06:00

"Got a favorite writing quote to share???"Email it to Tricia at bookmarketing@triciagoyer.com

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-83873016478445788182007-03-15T08:16:00.000-06:002007-03-15T10:18:56.644-06:00

The character as well as the fortunes of the gospel is committed to the preacher. He makes or mars the message from God to man. The preacher is the golden pipe through which the divine oil flows. The pipe must not only be golden, but open and flawless, that the oil may have a full, unhindered, unwasted flow . . . The man, the whole man, lies behind the sermon. Preaching is not the performance of

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-73158680969442020272007-03-14T08:02:00.000-06:002007-03-14T10:09:37.490-06:00

"Once a new idea springs into existence, it cannot be unthought. There is a sense of immortality in a new idea."~~Edward de Bobo

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-41673020931964664662007-03-13T10:47:00.000-06:002007-03-13T09:52:40.594-06:00

Here's another great insight from Jim Thompson in response to this Mark Twain quote:To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself...Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-12239776846156731892007-03-09T08:35:00.000-07:002007-03-09T10:45:17.764-07:00

If you read bad stuff, you will learn to write bad stuff. If you listen to only bad music, you ill grow up to compose lousy music as well. If you do not take the time and make the effort to listen and to study and to reflect on and to engage yourself deeply in the things that move you deeply, then it will be difficult to begin to make anything that will move anyone else very deeply at all.--

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-43203925975563377162007-03-08T08:38:00.000-07:002007-03-08T10:14:32.371-07:00

My writer friend, Jim, left this as a comment on one of my blog posts."Recreational writing can be hit-and-miss, but for the Christian who feels God's commission to write for Him, that is not an option. Jesus' apostle Paul wrote, "For I am under compulsion, for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel." The same sort of compulsion exists for Christian writers. While we may not always "preach" the

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-69931653079108383062007-03-07T10:31:00.000-07:002007-03-07T10:34:59.696-07:00

This quote was sent by my writing friend, Suzan Robertson.“....With God's help, we can all do great things for the kingdom, that we can ruthlessly pursue excellence and when the voices of disdain grow loud from talented folks and those who wish they were, let’s drown them out with the most beautiful, thoughtful words we can muster, displayed on the pages of our own work. “Don't be

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-53786441034063268452007-03-06T08:02:00.000-07:002007-03-06T10:17:42.460-07:00

Nobel prize winning chemist Linus Pauling said, "The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas."I so agree, one of them is bound to be good. :)

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-70672284448493920302007-03-05T02:17:00.000-07:002007-03-05T10:58:06.602-07:00

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.Working out while travelingI’ve started

Camy Tangnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-15359078499684896212007-03-02T08:35:00.000-07:002007-03-02T15:13:47.719-07:00

"The narrative impulse is always with us; we couldn't imagine ourselves through a day without it. ... We need myths to get by. We need story; otherwise the tremendous randomness of experience overwhelms us. Story is what penetrates."~~Robert Coover, author

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-74477856941371341332007-03-01T10:19:00.000-07:002007-03-01T08:36:16.434-07:00

"Writing a book is an endurance contest, and a war fought against yourself, because writing is beastly hard work which one would just as soon not do. It's also a job, and if you want to get paid, you have to work. Life is cruel that way."~~by Tom Clancy"We all ended up just the tiniest bit resentful when we found the one fly in the ointment: that at some point we had to actually sit down and

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-77910317927782840922007-02-28T09:54:00.000-07:002007-02-28T10:18:41.407-07:00

I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.~~Pearl S. Buck

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-56413139487483741912007-02-27T10:13:00.000-07:002007-02-27T09:10:45.152-07:00

I picked this up from a web site I just discovered:http://faithinfiction.blogspot.comDavid Long, a fiction acquisitions editor with Bethany House Publishers, authors this blog, which in its various pages is filled with highly valuable publishing insights. Here's a quote from AnnTatlock, partially in answer to Dave's question: "What is the one thing most lacking, in your opinion, in the CBA book/

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-27913761693208469222007-02-26T08:05:00.000-07:002007-02-26T10:05:28.470-07:00

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.The 10-Minute WorkoutAt last! A workout

Camy Tangnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-43848194940521076002007-02-23T10:13:00.000-07:002007-02-23T08:35:39.289-07:00

"Being a real writer means being able to do the work on a bad day."~~ Norman Mailer

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-9457154726882315062007-02-22T10:12:00.000-07:002007-02-22T08:01:40.445-07:00

“Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader, not the fact that it’s raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.”~~E.L. Doctorow

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-56423767367313002902007-02-21T07:11:00.000-07:002007-02-21T07:55:16.289-07:00

I'm often asked, 'Where do you get your ideas?' The short answer is: everywhere. It's like asking, 'Where do you find air to breathe?' Ideas are all around you." ~~legendary American choreographer and dancer Twyla Tharp

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-14121584012577016622007-02-20T10:09:00.000-07:002007-02-20T09:02:04.533-07:00

In my books I try to depict not a glorious faith with celestial fireworks, but a daily faith, a routine faith, a seven-days-a-week faith. Father Tim's faith is part of his everyday life. He has simple prayers, not polished, pious prayers. He follows the Apostle Paul's command that we pray without ceasing. I try to depict how our faith may be woven into our daily life, like brandy poured into

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-50295480053233158662007-02-19T02:04:00.001-07:002007-02-19T02:04:57.678-07:00

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.Eat fiberI have to confess, I’m a

Camy Tangnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-67580499364283761422007-02-16T10:07:00.000-07:002007-02-16T10:05:47.900-07:00

As a writer—and eavesdropper—I know that genius lives where the language lives. Some witness it, overhearing by chance. I eavesdrop professionally, because such listening makes life a perpetual feast, and because I’m not always smart enough to invent things as powerful as what I hear. Another way to say this: By listening to the glories of conversation around me, I am moved to write, and I am

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-82156833815265341792007-02-15T09:58:00.000-07:002007-02-15T10:06:35.333-07:00

"God created me to write. I will write no matter what."~~Madeleine L'Engle

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-78746119225264542922007-02-14T09:57:00.000-07:002007-02-14T12:12:15.889-07:00

"Write or die. Don't waste the gift God has given you." --David Kopp

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-10455909212531892132007-02-13T08:56:00.000-07:002007-02-10T22:13:02.647-07:00

Though the ostensible purpose of nonfiction is the conveyance of information, if that information is in a raw state, the writing seems pedestrian, black-and-white facts in a colorful world. The reader, soon bored, yearns for the images, anecdotes, characterization, and writerly precision that make informational writing come alive on the page. That is where the techniques of fiction can be so

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-75731646028975025672007-02-09T09:52:00.000-07:002007-02-08T14:55:26.336-07:00

It is worth mentioning, for future reference, that the creative power which bubbles so pleasantly in beginning a new book quiets down after a time, and one goes on more steadily. Doubts creep in. Then one becomes resigned. Determination not to give in, and the sense of an impending shape keep one at it more than anything.~~Virginia Woolf

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-21487677242229349052007-02-08T09:51:00.000-07:002007-02-07T10:06:15.631-07:00

In a mood of faith and hope my work goes on. A ream of fresh paper lies on my desk waiting for the next book. I am a writer and I take up my pen to write.~~Pearl S. Buck

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-23101355881940718602007-02-07T09:49:00.000-07:002007-02-07T10:06:15.673-07:00

To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself...Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.~~MARK TWAIN

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-39364612449296733912007-02-06T09:47:00.000-07:002007-02-06T08:08:08.287-07:00

But words are things, and a small drop of ink,Falling, like dew, upon a thought, producesThat which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.~~ Lord Byron

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-40673539335036854342007-02-05T01:41:00.000-07:002007-02-05T02:00:16.037-07:00

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.Keep your back strong!As writers, one

Camy Tangnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-81270409358679305382007-02-02T09:46:00.000-07:002007-02-02T08:05:14.390-07:00

I am writing in the garden. To write as one should of a garden one must write not outside it or merely somewhere near it, but in the garden.~~Frances Hodgson Burnett

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-6624584705599043632007-02-01T09:44:00.000-07:002007-02-01T07:55:22.642-07:00

Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say.~~Sharon O'Brien

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-35849938727615147152007-01-31T09:37:00.000-07:002007-01-31T10:44:22.449-07:00

We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.--Ray Bradbury

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-45922826806696293182007-01-30T09:39:00.000-07:002007-01-30T11:23:06.411-07:00

Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience.~~Henry David Thoreau: Quotations about Writing

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-43204208246325044862007-01-29T01:28:00.000-07:002007-01-29T01:29:40.584-07:00

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.Try to cut back on refined sugarYou’ve

Camy Tangnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-28542861675116001842007-01-26T09:23:00.000-07:002007-01-26T11:13:29.151-07:00

"If you're a singer, you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he's good, the older he gets, the better he writes." --Mickey SpillaneTricia’s Thoughts:Have you ever considered how blessed we are to be in our chosen profession? Writers get to keep writing long past what many consider retirement age. God reminds me of this often. Especially on those

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-66238294299418226182007-01-25T09:22:00.000-07:002007-01-25T10:16:43.813-07:00

This quote was sent to me by my writing-friend, Glenda Schoonmaker"Keep at it! The one talent that's indispensable to a writer is persistence. You must write the book, else there is no book. It will not finish itself. Do not try to commit art. Just tell the story." –Tom ClancyTricia’s Thoughts:At least once a week I receive an email from a new writer. “I’m not sure about my writing. Not sure if

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-41126098583340440812007-01-24T09:21:00.000-07:002007-01-24T10:30:17.984-07:00

“When I face the desolate impossibility of writing 500 pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me, and I know I can never do it. Then gradually, I write one page and then another. One day's works is all I can permit myself to contemplate.” –John SteinbeckTricia’s Thoughts:Races are won one step at a time. Orchestras play note by note. The page writes book.Don’t get overwhelmed with the whole

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-55277763793040413852007-01-23T09:19:00.000-07:002007-01-23T10:15:41.107-07:00

"My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way."– Ernest HemingwayTricia’s Thoughts:Yesterday I was blessed to teach ten, homeschooling students, grades 6-9, the basics of fiction writing. I broke the lessons into basic elements such as characterization and dialogue, and then I gave the students time to write and apply the concepts they just learned. I was

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-47176518852818041572007-01-22T05:31:00.000-07:002007-01-22T05:41:34.068-07:00

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.Don't procrastinate.I admit, I’m a huge

Camy Tangnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1555884595271259182007-01-19T09:18:00.000-07:002007-01-19T07:54:23.798-07:00

“Don't say it was ‘delightful’; make us say ‘delightful’ when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers 'Please, will you do the job for me?’ ”–C.S. LewisTricia’s Thoughts:One thing that inspires me most as a writer is to read about other Christian authors. Their joys, their struggles, and their successes

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-8573563907650622182007-01-18T08:55:00.000-07:002007-01-18T10:39:32.027-07:00

When I ask a group of professional writers to state the essential difference between nonfiction and fiction, most are unable to do so . . . Let us state the difference in the simplest way.Nonfiction conveys information.Fiction evokes emotion.Because the intended results are so different, the mind-sets required for writing fiction and nonfiction are different. In fiction, when information obtrudes

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-20983072310424757082007-01-17T08:53:00.000-07:002007-01-17T08:55:08.622-07:00

“When I begin to lose heart, it does me good to recall a lesson in the dignity of art which I learned years ago at a theater in Assisi, in Italy. Helena and I had gone to see an evening of pantomime and no one else showed up. The two of us made up the entire audience. When the lights dimmed, we were joined by the usher and the ticket seller. Yet despite the fact that there were more people on

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-46423330267195436382007-01-16T09:38:00.000-07:002007-01-16T09:40:53.535-07:00

“We all feed the lake. That is what is important. It is a corporate act. During my time in the theatre I knew what it was to be part of such an enlarging of the human potential, and though I was never more than a bit play or an understudy, I knew the truth of Stanislavsky’s words: “There are no small roles. There are only small players.” And I had the joy of being an instrument in the great

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1160360473381162902007-01-15T08:20:00.000-07:002007-01-15T08:14:52.398-07:00

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.Portion checkEven if you’re eating

Camy Tangnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-60454036575570263972007-01-12T08:52:00.000-07:002007-01-12T09:08:29.784-07:00

“It is in their 'good' characters that novelists make, unawares, the most shocking self-revelations.” –C.S. LewisTricia’s Thoughts:One of the most intriguing writing tasks is getting to know my characters. They all start as “heroic” people, but the deeper I dig (with the help of “Writing the Breakout Novel” by Donald Maas) the more hang-ups I discover within that person.This quote by C.S. Lewis

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-83867303136824457702007-01-10T10:07:00.000-07:002007-01-10T10:10:48.998-07:00

"Writing is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public." -- Winston Churchill

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-77678820530841788142007-01-09T08:11:00.000-07:002007-01-09T08:12:25.423-07:00

“The novelist is like the conductor of an orchestra, his back to the audience, his face invisible, summoning the experience of music for the people he cannot see. The writer as conductor also gets to compose the music and play all of the instruments, a task less formidable that it seems. What it requires is the conscious practice of providing an extraordinary experience for the reader, who should

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1160360358264251572007-01-08T08:18:00.000-07:002007-01-08T08:01:42.859-07:00

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.A small change—complex

Camy Tangnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161712099953770302007-01-05T08:47:00.000-07:002007-01-05T08:03:34.581-07:00

There's no hard and fast rule on how much to write per day. I know great writers who produce just 3-4 polished pages a day. I write only on deadline and I schedule 20 finished pages a day, but then need to go back and polish later. If I get my 20 pages done by noon, great. If it takes till midnight, so be it. I can't allow myself to fall behind. The best rule of thumb is to keep your seat in the

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161711720919889752007-01-04T08:39:00.000-07:002007-01-04T11:51:45.267-07:00

I met a guy once who had some nerve damage in his neck from a diving accident. Then one morning he woke up and felt like he couldn't breathe. They took him to the ER and found that he was actually getting air into his lungs. No problem there. But his nerves were telling his brain, "No oxygen in lungs. Panic!" He's learned to live with that feeling every second of his life.That's a little like

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1166218671427834872007-01-03T08:32:00.000-07:002007-01-03T11:27:08.931-07:00

Here is a quote I found while researching for my new book on Marriage, it's taken from Sharon Jaynes book, Dreams of a Woman."Calvin Coolidge said, "Nothing n this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Educatoin will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1160360423906993782007-01-02T20:19:00.000-07:002007-01-02T08:25:02.792-07:00

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.When you can, walkIf you can, get in

Camy Tangnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1166198100160972062006-12-29T08:52:00.000-07:002006-12-29T09:47:36.960-07:00

The following quote is from the Jan. 2007 issue of The Writer magazine."A novelist must preserve a childlike belief in the importance of things which common sense considers of no great consequence."W. Somerset Maugham, A Writer's NotebookJune

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161711222395856362006-12-28T08:32:00.000-07:002006-12-28T09:41:59.959-07:00

Today, I’m doing things a little backward, and I’m giving my thoughts before the quote. You’ll understand . . .Tricia’s Thoughts:Have you ever walked into a bookstore or perhaps a book convention and thought, “Why, am I doing this. I’m crazy. Why try?”There are so many books being published, dozens of writers vying for the same position on the store shelves, or within the pages of a magazine.I

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161708282010815252006-12-27T08:43:00.000-07:002006-12-27T14:35:44.349-07:00

This quote was sent in by my writer-friend Elece Hollis:“Do you realize what would happen if Moses were alive today? He'd go up Mt. Sinai, come back with the Ten Commandments, and spend the next eight years trying to get published,”–Robert Orben, humoristTricia’s Thoughts:Hahahaha!A smile for your day :-)

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161712255709058142006-12-26T08:50:00.000-07:002006-12-26T11:36:25.943-07:00

"How do I set my priorities when all things seem equally important and/or urgent? While our children were living at home, their needs came first. After all, they didn't ask to be born. We asked for them. For me, that meant writing part-time around the kids' schedules."--Elizabeth Lowell

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161712015707564722006-12-21T08:46:00.000-07:002006-12-21T09:56:36.246-07:00

I try to avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward.--Charlotte BronteTricia’s Thoughts:There are many places you can look for help with your writing today. You can pick up a writing book. Call or email a writer friend. You can look backward to consider how far you’ve come. Or look forward to future training, a soon-to-be published work, or a soon completed task. But the

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161711876540941072006-12-20T08:42:00.000-07:002006-12-20T09:50:11.026-07:00

It is tempting sometimes, or at least it seems so to me, to think of my work here on earth in rather large and grandiose ways. It may be that writers are the only ones who suffer from such a thing, but I am not sure it is so.I like to think of my work in terms of building the kingdom and spreading the gospel. It is not a bad thing for us to step back and try to see how the labor of our hands and

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1160360297629722392006-12-18T20:17:00.000-07:002006-12-20T09:49:34.890-07:00

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.Try a light workout in the morningWhen

Camy Tangnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161711584575598662006-12-15T08:37:00.000-07:002006-12-15T08:51:39.043-07:00

I think of painting and music as subcutaneous arts. They get under your skin. They may get deeper than that eventually, but it takes a while, and they get there to some extent tinged by if not diluted by the conditions under which you saw them or heard them. Writing on the other hand strikes me as intravenous. As you sit there only a few inches from the printed page, the words you read go

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161711392856929192006-12-14T08:36:00.000-07:002006-12-14T06:45:39.900-07:00

Today’s writer’s quote was sent to me by my writing friend Cindy Thomson.If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing about. –Benjamin FranklinTricia’s Thoughts:Or do both! I truly believe that the more we do worth doing, the more we have worth writing about. Remember, writers need to experience life in order to write about

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161711371570538672006-12-13T08:33:00.000-07:002006-12-13T09:27:22.000-07:00

“It never fails to surprise me, in conversations with writers who seek my advice as to what they should write, how many fail to see before their very eyes the hay that might be gold. Instead of honoring the subjects and forms that invade their dreams and diaries, they concoct some ideas about what’s selling or what agents and editors are looking for as they try to fit their odd-shaped pegs into

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161710857307534042006-12-12T08:26:00.000-07:002006-12-12T09:15:34.673-07:00

"This is the oldest rule, but still true today-write what you know. But don't limit that to what you know in your head. Write about what you know in your heart-things you've lived and felt and experienced. Sometimes it's our biggest life challenges that produce our best writing. And, if nothing else, it's cheap therapy. But, honestly, I believe God can use our toughest trials to communicate from

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1160359462882981972006-12-11T08:02:00.000-07:002006-12-11T09:38:36.030-07:00

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.Use variety so you don’t fall off the

Camy Tangnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161711119266812292006-12-08T08:30:00.000-07:002006-12-08T08:58:27.200-07:00

“ . . . For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid pieces of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet you or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die. They are

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161711031075407702006-12-07T08:29:00.000-07:002006-12-07T08:30:02.616-07:00

“I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help Him. I ended up by asking Him to do His work through me.”–Hudson Taylor, Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual SecretTricia’s Thoughts:As I read Hudson Taylor’s thoughts this morning, my mind immediately went to writing. In fact, I could easily rewrite the quote this way. “I used to ask God to help me with my writing. Then I asked if I might help

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161710950767633792006-12-06T08:27:00.000-07:002006-12-06T08:04:36.280-07:00

Personal storytelling helps us go beyond these tired, easy, blind responses and see the full range of wondrous moments and meaningful themes that exist in our day-to-day lives. We revitalize our sense of the miraculous. Viewed with this kinds of sensitivity, even the most apparently featureless, unexplored life can metamorphose into a story-rich odyssey.--Jack McGuire, The Power of Personal Story

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161709973362717832006-12-05T08:11:00.000-07:002006-12-05T08:57:26.246-07:00

As a writer—and eavesdropper—I know that genius lives where the language lives. Some witness it, overhearing by chance. I eavesdrop professionally, because such listening makes life a perpetual feast, and because I’m not always smart enough to invent things as powerful as what I hear. Another way to say this: By listening to the glories of conversation around me, I am moved to write, and I am

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1160359516702947432006-12-04T20:04:00.000-07:002006-12-04T03:59:56.096-07:00

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.You’re not a loserI know you’ve heard

Camy Tangnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161710699497894522006-12-01T08:22:00.001-07:002006-12-01T09:44:30.850-07:00

“Your imagination is a powerful tool, for good or mediocrity or evil. Begin by consecrating it to God and asking Him to guide you as you write.”–Linda NicholsTricia’s Thoughts:When it comes to preparing to write, we all have our quirks. I like to have a cup of coffee on my desk. The room has to be quiet, and if it’s winter I need to be dressed in a comfy sweater and fuzzy socks. . . just because.

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15516970.post-1161710431124418142006-11-30T08:19:00.000-07:002006-11-30T09:10:07.470-07:00

“WRITE WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED. It's not as crazy as it sounds. By looking at the ‘movie in your mind’ you'll often come up with more telling details and fresher images as you type. If you still write in long hand, just spend a few minutes ‘watching’ the scene unfold, then record what you saw.”--James Scott BellFor more great writing tips from James Scott Bell, check out:

Tricia Goyernoreply@blogger.com2